A Memory Best Left Forgotten
by Derr Gotik
Summary: The Humans have died and the Machine sleeps now dead . But why? What causes this? and How did the Stitchpunks come to be? An old evil has awakened and it hunts the punks. Not a machine but the 13th prototype created by the Scientist himself. cool read
1. Chapter 1

**A Memory Best Left Forgotten**

**By Robbi Derrick**

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT own 9 or any of its character or plot. They belong to Shane Acker. This fan fiction and my own plot belong to me.

Bam! The door burst open as two soldiers made way for the Chancellor. "Good doctor! I have been made aware of the great progress of the B.R.A.I.N. These gentlemen and I are here to put this machine in operation. Thank you for all your hard work." The Chancellor said with a malicious grin upon his face.

"Wait, what do you speak of Chancellor? I was not made aware of such a plan of action."

"The information was on a need-to-know basis and, quite frankly, you didn't need to know." The Chancellor gave a slight chuckle. "Men, take this machine to the factory and begin installation into the Fabrication unit. Mass production must begin as soon as possible."

The Scientist's eyes went wide at the revelation of the chancellor's plan. "Wait no! The machine is not ready for mass production chancellor! We don't know what kind of effect the stress would have on the fragile A.I.!"

"Doctor… Move away or we will force you to." Threatened the Chancellor, his true colors being made aware to the scientist for the first time.

"No! No you mustn't!" Exclaimed the Poor scientist as he was forced away by the chancellor's guards. The brain sensed something was not normal and tried to reach for his creator. However the scientist was beyond its grasp. Then the guards turned to the machine and began to move it out of the room.

"_Assessment: Situation not normal. Two unknown humans… Possible threat to B.R.A.I.N. Course of Action… Deter possible threat." _Thought the machine before it grabbed one guard and threw him down. More guard's came as the machine tried to fight them of itself.

"Guard's shut down the B.R.A.I.N.!" yelled the Chancellor over the commotion.

"No! A forced shut down might damage it!"

"Get him out of here!" Roared the chancellor at the guard still holding the scientist.

The scientist was forced out of the lab and the last thing he saw was the brain being swarmed by soldiers as it went under.

A few weeks later…

The scientist sat at his desk with the newspaper before him. "The age of the machine is here" read across the front page in bold letters. The scientist's creation was installed into a mechanical monstrosity that the Chancellor had named, "The Fabrication Machine." During the past few weeks a series of troublesome events had befallen the scientist. The chancellor's soldiers had searched the scientist's lab and confiscated most of his paperwork and blueprints. Then later they had interrogated him on the machine's unwillingness to be taken away from the lab. As if he had something to do with it! And now the Chancellor has created the monstrosity to manufacture mechanical sentries of so called "peace." The Chancellor had used him for his genius. While the automated sentries did keep the peace they also made work hard for the policemen. However the scientist's greatest concern was the stress being put upon the machine. It was hanging by a thread yet the chancellor had turned a deaf ear to his reasoning. The scientist only hoped he was mistaken and the machine could take it.

A few nights later:

_ It was dark… but it was not night? The scientist looked towards the sky and saw the once blue sky shrouded in gray and black clouds. _

"_What on Earth is going on?" thought the scientist. As if in answer to his unspoken question, the image in front of him dissolved away and he found himself in a world of noise. The scientist could hear gun fire and explosions around him. He saw men and women running both away and towards the epicenter of the battle. BAM! An explosion to the scientist's left got his attention and he saw an iron behemoth break through the ruins a building in front of him. "Oh my God in heaven…" The iron Cyclops seemed to gaze through the scientist with its soulless eye. The beast fired its chain gun and the bullets passed through the scientist to hit a man behind him. "God no!" yelled the Scientist. Men, women, and even children were being slain all around the Scientist, executed by remorseless monsters created of iron and steel. The Scientist collapsed to his knees and looked up at the fire red sky, there he saw the Fabrication machine. "So that's it, this entity born of man is the cause of these atrocities? What can I do!?" The scientist put his down again and was surprised by what he saw. Amidst all the death and destruction, he saw a little… he did not know what it was really, only that it looked like a little doll. Unlike the behemoths around him, this creation was anything but soulless. He could see the doll's face bearing an expression of concern for the sorrowful scientist. "Who are you?" the scientist attempted to communicate with the creature. However the doll merely smiled and turned to leave. Before he could even see the doll's back, the scene around him flashed white and…_

"Ah!" The Scientist yelled as she shot up in bed. He was sweating and breathing heavily. "What a horrible nightmare… or was it? What if… what if I just had a vision?" The way things were going, the reality he just saw could easily become reality. "I must warn the chancellor… The stress on the machine is simply too great to ignore."

One week later:

The Scientist had gone to the office to warn the chancellor of the possible outcome of stressing the machine. But it had reached deaf ears once again. Due to the outrageous nature of the Scientist's theory, he was officially removed from the project. And a day later, tensions with a neighboring nation snapped and war was declared on it. "Darn fool Chancellor… He will only lead us to destruction," Thought the scientist as he headed home.

_________Author's Note______

Hey Guy's! This is the Prologue to my 9 fanfic and it will be AU cuz not as many Stitchpunks die. The next chapter WILL include the stitchies. I'm sorry I didn't add them in here but this was getting kinda long as it is ^^'


	2. Chapter 2

A memory Best left Forgotten

By Robbie Derrick

Act II

_"The doll in the dream… Perhaps it serves as a counterbalance to the violence in the dream? No, perhaps the inhumanity of it all. Hmm, that sounds much more likely. But is it even a literal entity in my dream? Or does it merely represent something else? Urgh, why are these things never clear…" _The Scientist furrowed his brow in thought at his desk. He looked at the clock; 12:00 AM. "Hmm, perhaps I should get to bed now." He said as a yawn followed. The sleepy man climbed intohis bed and waited for sleep to take him.

_Blackness… an endless dark is all the Scientist could see in this void. But then, there was a pin prick of light growing in size rapidly. He could now see the light was in the form of three strange shapes. Odd and yet familiar all the same. "The talisman?" He wondered out loud. Yes, it was the three symbols he had read were necessary to transfer an aspect of one's self into an inanimate object. All of a sudden, the talisman undid itself and then before the Scientist's eyes it rearranged itself. Shortly after, three rays of eerie green light engulfed the Scientist and when he opened his eyes he saw his own body as if in 3__rd__ person. "How is can this be?" he asked himself. He was looking at his body from eight inches above the ground. When he looked over himself he saw burlap instead of skin and copper manipulators instead of his bony hands. "What am I...?" As if on cue, out of the blackness 9 forms materialized of green light followed by 13 more. "The… dolls? Who are you? What are you?" A disembodied voice answered out of the void,_

"_We are you, you are us. We are when man is not. We carry life when man has let it fall into darkness. We are…hope. You will give us life and we shall protect it. Hurry for man is already lost; do not let all life slip into darkness…"_

"Ahhh!" The Scientist yelled as he woke up in a cold sweat. "That was no dream… I have the gift of foresight… I believed that gift had died with my grandmother." He rose from the bed and began to pace back and forth. "Regardless of how I can see these things, the question is what can I do now that I can have a say in the outcome of the future. "The dolls and the talisman are somehow connected that is for certain. But what do they mean when they say I will give them life? The talisman only transfers knowledge and intelligence." That's when an idea occurred to the Scientist. He turned to his desk where he had placed a book. "The act of the talisman rearranging itself means I must reprogram it!" he exclaimed. He opened the book of Dark Sciences and looked up _soul_ transferring. "If this is what it will take to preserve life, then so be it."

**Sometime Later**

The Scientist had been successful in reprogramming the talisman. I took him about a week since he had resorted to finding new work as a tutor. The scientist had decided to perform several tests and construct several prototype dolls which he had named "stitchpunks."

The Scientist pinched his nose bridge and sighed as he wrote in his journal, _"it is my regret to write that prototypes I through XI were unsuccessful. The body would not function with the soul fragment. Soul repossession was necessary for future models."_

The next day the Scientist finished his 12th prototype doll. This one was humanoid in design and stood one foot tall (30cm). "Here goes nothing…" The Scientist uttered as he readied himself before the doll and the transfer device. After he activated the talisman and the light took his soul fragment the Scientist slumped back in his chair and waited. Nothing at first, yet after several minutes the dolls eyes fluttered open and it looked at the scientist.

"H-he-hello" P12 said in a female voice. The Scientist jumped up so fast he startled the doll.

"Amazing! I never expected it to communicate to soon! And it is female? How is this possible?"

"E-ex-excuse me… I=I am not it. I am… Who and _what_ am I?" She said as she looked herself over.

The Scientist looked at his creation, "hmm, that is a good question… you are an animatronic homunculus that I have dubbed "stitchpunk" however you yourself don't really have a name. More of a number actually, I referred to you as Prototype XII or PXII for short. But I can name you Cassandra. Or Elizabeth…"

PXII shook her head, "No those a-are t-too complicated. P-PXII is fine." She smiled at the scientist.

"_What a darling…"_ He thought as he looked at her. _"It's too bad she seems to have mental processing problems. Let's hope and see if Prototype XIII will fare better." _

PXII watched as the scientist worked on PXIII's skeleton. She seemed to be fascinated by the occasional sparks of the sautering iron and the work of the screwdriver. The Scientist had designed XIII to test how a strong behemoth-like body would function for a stitchpunk. So naturally his skeleton was tall, broad, and heavy. XIII was a test of how a stitchpunk could act as a guard. Unlike XII who was strictly humanoid in design, XIII had five manipulator tentacles on top of his head that were attached to a rotator and each arm was tipped with a razor sharp hook. These manipulators were also designed to serve as antennae to communicate with other stitchpunks. After the Scientist had put the canvas skin on him he put him up to receive the soul fragment.

"S-sir, here is the n-newspaper" PXII said as she handed the Scientist his newspaper.

"Thank you PXII but I'm busy at the…." The Scientist noticed the headline news, **WAR DECLARED **on the front page. "No… No!" He yelled slamming his fist on the table, making PXII Jump. "That fool Chancellor! He used me… He used MY creation. This is war is partially now my fault…" A rage the Scientist had never known was building up inside him.

"S-sir? You must complete PXIII…" PXII said as she shrank back from the scientist.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" The Scientist yelled as angry tears left his eyes. "_I must continue the project; I must try and right this_." He thought to himself and got in front of the machine once more. He activated the sequence and completed the transfer. Oddly enough, once the transfer was done, the Scientist noticed he had calmed down. He looked down to PXII and apologized, "I am so sorry PXII I was not myself. Please excuse my unreasonable behavior." PXII nodded indicating she had understood. Now the scientist waited on PXIII to rise.

Half an hour had passed and the Scientist had taken to reading an article in the paper. PXII was watching over the new doll. Suddenly XIII stirred and PXII made to alert the Scientist.

"S-Scien-t-tist, it is awake sir!" She said happily. The old man turned around and hurried over to the workbench. The new doll opened its eyes and made to rise of the table. PXII helped him up. "H=how are you feeling?" She asked.

XIII held his head and looked at the source of the voice. "I'm… fine?" it said in a male voice. By this time the Scientist had stepped back to see how the two would communicate. "Here let me help you up…" PXII said as she made to help him.

"No thank you, I can take care of it." XIII told her and he used his arm as well as the manipulators to rise to his full height of 45 centimeters (1 ½ ft).

"_Hmm"_ the Scientist thought, _"I think I may have designed him too large to function properly. He appears to have a better speech and thought process than PXII though. This is an improvement."_

"Who are you?" PXIII said to the scientist as he stepped in front of PXII.

"_He also appears to have protective instincts. It seems the guard function is not at all impossible to achieve."_

"I ask you again, who are you?"

The Scientist snapped out of His thoughts. "I'm sorry, I am the Scientist who created both you and your friend there. Your name is Prototype XIII or PXIII for short. Unless you prefer a different name of course."

XIII shook his head, "PXIII is fine." XII pulled on the new doll's arm leading him towards the other end of the table. "And who are you?" He asked the other doll in a much nicer tone.

"I-I'm P-PXII I came before y-you." She told him in a somewhat shaky voice, indicating she was nervous.

"Well it is very nice to meet you. What are we to do now?" XIII asked XII. PXII was thinking on that as they had now walked and climbed to the top of a very tall cabinet.

"The S-Scientist had me perform some t-tasks to see if I f-functioned p-properly. I don't know if I p-passed or if I was being g-graded." Even though XII was answering XIII's question she couldn't help but let her thoughts wonder. _"I can't believe I'm here with another one. He is so… what is the word humans use to describe that? Handsome I think it is. Yes, he is very handsome… and I… I am attracted to him? Yes… I believe I may be."_

"PXII? Hello…." He said as he waved a hand in XII's face.

"Oh! S-sorry XIII! I-I was thinking. What were u saying by the _waaaaaaaay_!!!!" XII Screamed as she lost focus and slipped off the edge of the cabinet. The fall would surely damage her delicate structure XIII feared. The Scientist had momentarily left the room so he was not around to save her. There was however a burning desire to help XII deep in what XIII supposed was his "heart."

"Hold on XII! I'm coming!" PXIII yelled as he ran to the edge and leaped off the tall cabinet. He forced his body to react quickly and used one of his manipulators to seize XII around the ankle. They were still rapidly descending to the wooden floor so XIII willed his remaining four manipulators to pierce the solid oak and suspend the just above the floor. "I'm going to set you down now ok XII?" She nodded and he let her go gently. Now XIII pushed himself off and landed somewhat ungracefully.

XII ran over to XIII and glomped him. "Thank you XIII! Thank you so much!" She exclaimed.

"It's fine, calm down XII."

"I believe t-this could be the s-start of a beaut-tiful friendship" XII said with the biggest smile on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

A Memory Best Left Forgotten

By Robbi Dez

Disclaimer: _ I don__'__t own 9. That awesome claim belongs to Shane Acker._

Act III

The Scientist walked back into his work room as he was reading the latest news on the war. _"All goes well across our borders as our enemies fall and flee before our steel behemoths…"_

"Ah!" The Scientist exclaimed as he noticed PXIII fall from the door of his Wardrobe. He ran over to make sure his two creations were alright.

"XIII! XII! Are you alright?" PXII met the Scientist's eyes and told him

"I f-fell off of t-this cabinet and he s-saved me!" She answered with glee in her voice. She gave XIII an even tighter squeeze than last time and XIII could swear he would have blushed madly if he had blood.

"Um XII, I think you're over compressing my spinal unit…" He choked out.

PXII blinked and apologized, letting him go.

"Well XIII, you seem like quite the hero" the Scientist mused. "I believe your person shall be invaluable to the stitchpunks to come.

XIII looked upon the Scientist with a confused expression, "There are to be more of us then?"

"Oh yes my dear boy, you both have made it possible. Consider yourselves the forerunners of non biological life."

The stitchpunks looked at each other and shrugged, not really sure how to respond to that statement. "Ok" they both answered.

"Right then, I will leave you now and I shall return later." And with that the Scientist left the room.

"T-thanks again XIII" The female stitchpunk said with a smile.

"Think nothing of it." XIII answered with a warm smile. "So what do we do now?"

"I-I d-don't quite know. However… did the S-Scientist implant any k-knowledge of the human emotion of… love? I believe it's c-called."

XIII looked at his friend with a surprised expression. "Love?" XIII Searched his memory banks to see if he could ascertain an answer. "XII, my knowledge defines love as an emotion in which a person feels an exceptionally strong bond to another." XIII studied XII, she had a most puzzled look on her face. "May I ask why you are interested?"

"O-oh well because…" XII closed her shutters and really thought about what she was gonna say. "I-I also believe that love is first b-brought on by attraction a-and I feel that I-I am attracted… to you." She opened her optics and met XIII's with a very nervous expression. "I-I think I l-love you XIII. A-and I can't help b-but hope… t-that you love me too."

"XII…" Although XIII had no idea why, he took her hands in his. "I do not know why… but I think I feel the same way about you. We… love each other." He pointed out as looked at her. They spent a minute looking into each other's optics before they embraced each other.

"XII, XIII" called out the scientist as he entered the room. The two stitchpunks parted immediately and pretended as if nothing had just happened. Although neither was sure exactly why. "Come you two, we have some work to do."

**A Week Later…**

As the days went by, the Scientist had both stitchpunks perform several tests to check several aspects of their being. Unknown to the Scientist however, PXII and PXIII had been growing ever closer. During the tests, PXIII had tested with a very high IQ and had a very fast thought process. XII unfortunately had poor physical coordination and was slower in her reflexes and thought patterns.

"_Poor thing_" thought the Scientist. "_I don't think her design is going to make the cut…_" After the testing had finished on Friday, the two lovers had some alone time to themselves.

"XII I was reading a book from the Scientist's shelf and I came across another human tradition. This one is called, _marriage_… It is a ritual in which two people take a vow declaring to love and be true to one another until death take them. I was wondering… well, we may not be human but even so." XIII looked into his lover's eyes and confessed, "I love you XII and I want to be with you until the last spark of power leaves my body." And with that XIII kneeled, took out a washer, and placed it upon her slender finger. "Will you marry me PXII?"

PXII was in absolute bliss at this moment. She knew _exactly_ what marriage was and she could not believe her boyfriend, nay, her _fiancé_ had just proposed to her. "O-oh XIII…" She paused as she looked adoringly to her "ring". "Of c-course I will!" She exclaimed as she practically glomped PXIII in her happiness. "I love you."

"And I love you XII." He returned her embrace and they both held each other for some time before XIII spoke. "We have no one to perform the union though…"

"I-I d-don't care… You are my h-husband now." PXII said as she pulled him close to her again.

"I wouldn't have it any other way…" Then the two stitchpunks, exhausted from testing and their excitement began their rest cycle.

**That Next Morning**

"**AHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

PXIII Woke to a horrible screaming sound in close proximity to him. "What!?" He looked around and saw a sight that tore him apart. He saw his wife and a green aura that he could only assume was her soul leaving her body. Her body went limp in the Scientist's hands. PXIII was beyond yelling, he seemed to be feeling a strong pain in his processor. A horrible emotion he had never felt before was growing hotter inside him as he stared at his lover's dead body in the hands of her creator. A human, man, a demon... He rose to his feet and let the fire inside him overtake what he knew to be himself.

"XIII, Are you feeling alright…"

"BASTARD!!!" he yelled charging at the stupid man. The Scientist was startled and he dropped XII's lifeless form to the workbench. He slowed and ran to XII's side instead.

"What has gotten into you XIII!" The Scientist yelled at the stitchpunk.

"You killed her… You stupid, foolish human!" He said as he caressed XII's hand. "I loved her! And She loved me! How could you… You sick evil demon!" He let XII's hand go and he rose to his feet once again.

"XIII, I'm so sorry but… she was a prototype and her soul fragment needed to be reclaimed so that I may make another one of you. More advanced in many ways than she was."

"So you just threw her away like garbage?! And what, for whatever flaws I might have in design I will one day be scrapped to? You cannot play with our existence like we're mindless robots! You have played God and will pay for your ignorance human!"

The scientist quickly grabbed the Talisman and input the sequence for soul fragment repossession. XIII's optics went wide as the green light encircled him. He could feel the pain of so much trying to rip out of him. He felt like giving in for a moment, but it soon passed. He could NOT let this man win and just simply do as he sees fit like some God. His precious memories of him and XII passed through his barely conscious mind. Their "marriage" their love and that was all the strength he needed to repel the ravaging hands of the talisman. He was let go and the green light receded back into the device. He shakily rose to his feet once again and looked the creator square in the eyes. "No…Not I… "

"H-how can this be?!" The Scientist said in an alarmed manner.

And with that, an enraged PXIII with nothing to neither lose nor gain charged at the Scientist once again. Even though XIII's innards were seething with hatred for man and his ignorance, the stitchpunks' anger was not enough to end the Scientist. The monster and his creator engaged in a small struggle but the Scientist managed to hold down XIII. Even though XIII's manipulators had pierced the Scientist's hand he still managed to grab the X-acto knife he needed. The Scientist slit open the prototype's front and slit a crucial wire. "Demon of a man…" XIII said as his world began to grow dark.

"I'm so sorry XIII…" The Scientist said with tears in his eyes.

"It's not over human…" Prototype XIII said as his optics shut to a close.

The Scientist looked upon the body of his creation. Corrupted and hateful and yet, still his own. "I will not destroy you XIII, but you will sleep as long as man exists." The Scientist installed a fail-safe so that XIII would remain unconscious for the lifespan of the Scientist. For he could foresee he would be one of the last men alive. "Farewell XIII…" The Scientist said as he stitched him back up. He placed him in a box and set it aside. "I think enough conceptual work has been done." The Scientist said to himself. "I shall now make the first of the 9… 1."


End file.
